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<TITLE>Wild Swans &#150; Three Daughters of China</TITLE>
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<H2 ALIGN="CENTER">Wild Swans &#150; Three Daughters of China</H2>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-1"><B>By Jung Chang, published by
Doubleday/Anchor</B></FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-1">Copyright &copy; Reviewed by
<A HREF="mailto:rwwaugh@istar.ca">Rick Waugh</A></FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-1">This is one of the most harrowing, most starkly
written, and most beautiful books I have read in a while. It covers the story
of three generations of women in 20<SUP>th</SUP> century China. Jung Chang is
the third of these, born in China in 1952; she has written the true story of
her family.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-1">Jung&#146;s grandmother was born in 1909 in
northern China. At the age of 15 she was given as a concubine to a northern
warlord; she had one child, a daughter, Yu Fang. The treatment of women at the
time was very old fashioned, the politics of the time splintered and violent.
When the warlord died she was fortunate enough to marry for love, to a doctor
much older than herself. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-1">The war with Japan began, and the civil war
between Communists and Nationalists grew fierce. Against this backdrop, Yu Fang
grew up, and became involved with the Communist cause. She worked as an agent,
and met her husband, Wang Yu. They were part of the Communist victory.</FONT> 
</P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-1">He eventually became governor of Sichuan
province, and she also became a high ranking Communist official. They managed
to survive the Great Leap Forward, the 100 Flowers campaign, the Anti-Rightest
campaign, to name only a few pitfalls. Both are appalled by what is happening
to the revolution. They do their best for the people around them, but are often
unable to protect those who have worked hard for the revolution; those accused
and labeled as enemies of the state are sent to prison camps, executed, or
sentenced forced labour. If they survive, their names and their children&#146;s
names are stained forever.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-1">The times are incredible. Chairman Mao does not
come out looking like a great leader, but rather a great revolutionary who
didn&#146;t know how to govern in peace, who could not admit he was wrong, and
saw nothing unusual in bringing about the deaths of millions to try and make
his ideas work.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-1">The Cultural Revolution finally brings down
Wang Yu and Yu Fang. The horrors of the ten years between 1966 to 1976 are
documented vividly in this book: the excesses and stupidities, the murder and
torture, the destruction of China&#146;s economy. Perhaps the hardest story
told is that of Wang Yu, Jung Chang&#146;s father. He was a true revolutionary
who had joined the Communists because he sincerely believed, who ignored his
family and gave every minute of every day to China. Detained, humiliated,
tortured, he will not recant anything he has done or said, will not confess to
having done anything wrong, and is crushed by his tormenters.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-1">Jung Chang is an observer through all of this,
and came out mostly unscathed, at least physically. She goes through all the
turmoil of a broken life that most of those growing up in those years were
subjected to; family harassed, school destroyed, being sent from one part of
the country to another for &quot;re-education.&quot; She finally escapes in a
scholarship to the west to study English, and has lived here ever since.</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-1">This is another must book for anyone trying to
understand what has happened in China this century. In particular, if you want
to read a first hand view of what the Communist revolution brought to China,
this is an excellent story.</FONT></P>
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<FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-2"><B>Last Updated: April 25th, 1999 </B></FONT> 
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